Kennedy, Enzi want answers on TB case

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/kennedy-enzi-want-answers-on-tb-case-2007-06-07.html

Kennedy, Enzi want answers on TB case
By Ben Breier
June 07, 2007

Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) are demanding answers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on how it was possible for a man with a very drug-resistant tuberculosis strain to bypass the national biodefense system and re-enter the country.

Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Enzi, the panel’s ranking member, called the chain of events that allowed 31-year-old Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker to evade authorities a “breakdown in communication.”

Specifically, the senators asked CDC Director Julie Gerberding for a timeline of events, including what steps were taken to locate and detain Speaker, who remains in isolation at a Denver-area hospital.

In addition, Kennedy and Enzi are requesting all communications that occurred between CDC and DHS, the CDC’s quarantine policy at the federal and state level, information on how Speaker ended up on the international “no fly” list and a copy of the CDC’s current policy and procedure on using airplanes. The lawmakers also are inquiring as to how CDC planned on bringing Speaker home after discovering the nature of his disease.

The CDC said it first contacted Speaker on May 23, a day after learning of his disease and after he had already traveled to Europe. The agency said it wanted Speaker to stay put and be quarantined; however, the Atlanta man changed his return flight and entered the U.S. through Canada, where he was allowed to cross the border even though he was flagged as a health risk.

In a separate letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, the senators ask how it was possible for Speaker to enter the U.S. “despite reports that his passport sent up red flags on the computer which advised border security personnel to don protective masks, detain him and contact health authorities.”

[in_cog_ni_to]

1. Good luck with that! They can't recall what happened at the CDC. No one knows anything and all

documents have disappeared. That's my guess anyway.:(